A 5.2 percent fall in the price of Royal Dutch Shell took
the most points off the FTSE after Shell's lower third quarter
profits undershot analysts' forecasts.

Croda also slumped 7.6 percent to make it the
worst-performing FTSE 100 stock as analysts and traders focused
on an uncertain earnings outlook for the company.

"Results season has, generally speaking, been a bit
disappointing. The revenue line has been a bit poor," said
Threadneedle Investments fund manager Mark Westwood, who helps
run the company's UK Absolute Alpha Fund.

MB Capital trading director Marcus Bullus also felt
third-quarter updates from UK companies had been mixed and said
there was room for the FTSE to fall to 6,600 points in the next
week.

"We are very high on the FTSE. There's room to come down to
the 6,600 point level and lose a bit of froth. I'd be taking
profits," said Bullus.

The FTSE is still up 14 percent since the start of 2013 and
only 2 percent below its 13-year peak of 6,875.62 points reached
in late May.

Threadneedle's Westwood said that on a longer-term basis,
global equities would remain underpinned by central bank
policies, which have hit returns on bonds and driven many
investors to the better returns available on the stock market.

Even though many investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve
to scale back a massive bond-buying programme at some point in
the future, no changes seem likely for now, while UK interest
rates remain at a record low of 0.5 percent.

"We really like equities as the best of a bad bunch," said
Westwood. "Equities do offer that inflation protection."